The Status Quo of Prefabricated Housing: An investigation into New Zealand Construction Sector

Abstract

The increase of population in large cities of New Zealand (NZ), propelled by the massive number of immigrants after COVID, has caused a shortage in housing supply. Prefabrication has been advocated as a potential solution to this problem. Its uptake in NZ is relatively low despite its benefits. So, building capacity and more capability are essential for the prefabricated housing (PH) supply chain (SC) by identifying obstacles and proposing methods to tackle them. This research aims to assess and map the SC for prefabricated housing projects (PHP) in NZ. The investigations include key industries, trades and skills in this construction system. For this purpose, a comprehensive analytical approach is followed, integrating bibliometric search and qualitative discussion: 1) recent PH research keywords, pros&cons; to identify factors limited PH sector to deliver NZ supply requirements 2) study gaps in PH sector 3) prefabricated construction research directions in the future. Results show lower uptake of prefabrication through SC and knowledge, negative perception, skill shortage, cost and finance, lack of coordination and communication, site operations, design shortage, and lack of design alteration to respond to site. Consequently, various influential factors hindering its uptake were discussed, and identifying the industries, parties and trades involved was performed.